Okay, who needs a dojo website?

[Mugu]

Hiya guys

Since I graduated from school, I don't have much projects to do and my job... well I'm typing this at work. So I don't have much work to do either. So I'm offering any Dojo that needs a website or improving, let me know. I'll gladly do it for free. Or anyone wants to join this freewebsites for kendo team will totally welcome. If your dojo can't even afford a webhost/domain name, I have a domain name which all you can share which is kendo-dojo.org. and I have unlimited submains, so I can go crazy if I want :)

Honestly, I think Kendo should be more widespread and I know we damn designers charge so freaking much for a website, what can we do, we got student loans to pay :P

Try not to be greedy for kewl graphics and all that, but I won't give you crappy stuff either, email me (mon@mludesign.com), PM me, or just post them here what you want from your website.

First come first serve :)

[Andou]

I don't really have a website suggestion, but I'm just here to say that I'm impressed with what you're doing. I'm sure the community thanks you. As do I. We need more charitable folk around here.

[Mugu]

*sniff* thanks for the compliment Andou, I appreciated the kind words :) I'm actually also working on a Kendo website, another gathering place. I can't find a website with all the information I need in one site, so I've decided to gather as much information as I can get my hands on (or you guys helping out), I can make this thingy works. I'm also trying my hands on Swift3D and Poser, so I'll post some 3D bogu out in the nearest future. If anyone wants to join this "crusade" :D, please let me know :)

[akumalkenshi]

That's a very noble offer, and Id have to say, ...YES, PLEASE..

My first attempt was with Yahoo geo cities, but it was a frustrating experience.

So, I've just aquired the domain name for the dojo.

its a five year dojo, in Cancun Mexico, and we have very little attendance.

Im actually sponsoring that and the hosting of it.

the domain name is cancunkenshi.com

I still have to get the info on how to log into it from the internet service provider from whom I aquired it .

My original idea was to learn front page, and build the site as Im learning.

So im reading the tutorial manual

But its going awfull slow

I could use some hints and tips

[Charuzu]

You are all people of great kindness.

What you are doing is just amazing. =^o^=

[Kiki]

Mugu SAN! I would appreciate it so much if you could help me. I am going to PM you. DOMO ARIGATO

Kiki - AKA "unskilled labor"
:wink:

[misterkurukuru]

kiki there are too many dark-side web pages on the net, do we really need one more?? just post a lot of darth vader pics and you will be set!

[Mugu]

That's a very noble offer, and Id have to say, ...YES, PLEASE..

My first attempt was with Yahoo geo cities, but it was a frustrating experience.

So, I've just aquired the domain name for the dojo.

its a five year dojo, in Cancun Mexico, and we have very little attendance.

Im actually sponsoring that and the hosting of it.

the domain name is cancunkenshi.com

I still have to get the info on how to log into it from the internet service provider from whom I aquired it .

My original idea was to learn front page, and build the site as Im learning.

So im reading the tutorial manual

But its going awfull slow

I could use some hints and tips

Who did you buy the domain name from? If you haven't deleted their welcom email, it should contains all the information you need to log into your domain name to change DNS server names and so forth. As for webhosting, I highly recommend e-rice.net for extremely cheap price, $10 a year :) With tons and great loads of functions, I have one of my accounts with them currently and they have great services for $10 a year. And if you wish, I can provide hosting for you because I have unlimited webspace from my webhost ;) The only thing I ask is not to put any videos or large file because that will cost a lot of bandwidth.

As for FrontPage or HTML, if you need any help. Feel free to email me, mon@mludesign.com, or icq me 15661561. I'll be glad to help in any way I can.

As for having little attendants... I believe websites can really help to spread the words out. Because the first place I go look for a dojo is the Internet. Have fun with the website :)

[Mugu]

Mugu SAN! I would appreciate it so much if you could help me. I am going to PM you. DOMO ARIGATO

Kiki - AKA "unskilled labor"
:wink:

Will be waiting for your PM :)

[Kiki]

You cannot truly appreciate light without dark
:wink:

[ShinKenshi]

Mugu, I manage a joint website between my college's kendo club and naginata club and I was wondering if you could take a look and give me some suggestions. I'm in the process of updating it so the one online is a bit old but I haven't been able to start updating till now. Let me know what you think and please feel free to give me some suggestions. BTW, if you're still around in the Minneapolis area in the fall, you should come down to Northfield and practice with us. Our schedule is on the main page of the site.

http://www.orgs.carleton.edu/naginata-kendo/welcome

[Anjin-san]

*sniff* thanks for the compliment Andou, I appreciated the kind words :) I'm actually also working on a Kendo website, another gathering place. I can't find a website with all the information I need in one site, so I've decided to gather as much information as I can get my hands on (or you guys helping out), I can make this thingy works. I'm also trying my hands on Swift3D and Poser, so I'll post some 3D bogu out in the nearest future. If anyone wants to join this "crusade" :D, please let me know :)

Count me in, I need something to work on to build my skills, and Kendo is cool, so send me an email. I'm not a big fan of flashy flash stuff like swift3d but I'm your man when it comes to css (100% of the formatting, layout, and positioning on kendo.uclu.org is done with css).

[Mugu]

Count me in, I need something to work on to build my skills, and Kendo is cool, so send me an email. I'm not a big fan of flashy flash stuff like swift3d but I'm your man when it comes to css (100% of the formatting, layout, and positioning on kendo.uclu.org is done with css).

Kewl beans, *happily add Anjin-san to roster list* :D

[nikolaj]

no requests, but keep up the good work! ;)

[Mugu]

Mugu, I manage a joint website between my college's kendo club and naginata club and I was wondering if you could take a look and give me some suggestions. I'm in the process of updating it so the one online is a bit old but I haven't been able to start updating till now. Let me know what you think and please feel free to give me some suggestions. BTW, if you're still around in the Minneapolis area in the fall, you should come down to Northfield and practice with us. Our schedule is on the main page of the site.

http://www.orgs.carleton.edu/naginata-kendo/welcome

Hey!

Mmm... looks like it still needs quite a bit work... just to let you know when it comes to critique, I'm pretty rough :D I'm actually better than my web design teacher, he will tells us "This is shit and go work on it more!" So here's me :)

1. The backgrounds drove me crazy, especially there are different backgrounds on different pages. I could barely read the information on there. Background 101 - Have a flat color background or no background at all. That's my rule. Especially a site like this because this is an informational website, you don't want to confuse and or frustrate your visitors. People want information, not cool graphics

2. Always remember this, "Simplicity is a beauty". That's my design "dou". That's just me, I like to see things those are pleasing and calm instead of chaotic. As for yours, it was pretty chaotic.

Those are my two big thingies on your site, though the layout is very well organized. Try some flat colors, look at these sites for inspirations:

http://chrisamo.blogspot.com/
http://www.endlife.com/
http://www.livingchildren.com/
http://www.ninjai.com/

All of the sites I listed above are very simple, just gradient here and there, add little bit of graphics. And try your hands in CSS, you can make things really pretty without using much graphics :)

If you need any help, feel free to email me and I'll gladly to help.

Where is your dojo? Coz there isn't an address there. It'll be fun to drop by to say hi :)

[ShinKenshi]

Thanks for the tips, Mugu, I really appreciate them and comments like that are really helpful :) . I actually don't know a thing about CSS but I'll try to get a couple of my friends who are CS majors to help me out with that. I use Microsoft FrontPage cause it's the only program I know how to use and the page that's online is pretty much the first version I made in a hurry cause we needed one up there to get some info and interest going. If you go to www.carleton.edu (http://www.carleton.edu/) you'll find the address for the college and when you get here, go east on 1st street and then make a left into the parking lot when you hit Maple. Go through the parking lot and the gym will be on the right. We don't meet during the summer (since everybody's gone home) but we'll begin practices again in mid September. Hope to see you there!

[Mugu]

Let me know when you guys start... I want to see how things run in other dojos and I hope I can start wearing bogu by then :)

[samurai]

You are indeed doing something special and I'm sure that all of us on thi forum appreciate it. I agree with you that kendo, but other martial arts as well, should be more mediatized. You are doing something about it and we, the other apprentices, should do the same thing.

[DarQik]

You should be able to get by without CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). CSS is primarily intended to allow you to control and change the layout of your site by maintaining a single file. Of course, it has other uses, like forcing fonts and colors for things that are hard set otherwise.

I think ninjai.com was the best example--very clean, very clear. The navigation and site purpose/statement is very immediate. Consider web sites like commercial advertising or art, you gotta grab attention fast, hold it and control it (while providing something).

ShinKenshi, I'd also agree you've got a pretty good layout to start with--just the background bleeds through the text making it hard to read--too busy on the eyes. I can't tell you how many sites I've worked with that would never provide coherent content. You've got that, so you're already ahead of the game. Photos are great--they do help make new people feel like they can connect easier. Pictures with new people practicing in street clothes not just bogu is a real bonus (from the perspective of a newer kenshi).

Mugu, that hosting price looks nice, but I'm a sucker for lots of databases... and with all the open source projects you can pull up based on PHP and MySQL.. :) Building a site has never been easier.

[Mugu]

Mugu, that hosting price looks nice, but I'm a sucker for lots of databases... and with all the open source projects you can pull up based on PHP and MySQL.. :) Building a site has never been easier.

Or you can get unlimited space, databases, and loads of features for $7.50 from simplehost :)

[Kaoru]

Mugu, I manage a joint website between my college's kendo club and naginata club and I was wondering if you could take a look and give me some suggestions. I'm in the process of updating it so the one online is a bit old but I haven't been able to start updating till now. Let me know what you think and please feel free to give me some suggestions. BTW, if you're still around in the Minneapolis area in the fall, you should come down to Northfield and practice with us. Our schedule is on the main page of the site.

http://www.orgs.carleton.edu/naginata-kendo/welcome

Hi ShinKenshi-san,

Nice website so far! The only thing I would suggest, is put who is in charge of instruction in your club on the website. I know Voss-sensei comes there when he can. But, it's nice for others viewing the site, to know who the person that is always there teaching naginata and Kendo are, and the rank. Otherwise, it's very nice! :)

Kaoru

[ShinKenshi]

Thanks a lot for the tips, guys! I actually won't be able to update the site until I get back to campus in September but I'll work on it until then so the fully updated site will be finished and ready to go as soon as I get back. Mugu, we've just ordered three club bogu sets so you're more than welcome to come to our practices and use them. Kaoru, great suggestion about putting names up. I hesitated about that at first because I wasn't sure if our sensei wanted their names on the site for various reasons. Come September the site will be much easier to read and pictures will be updated. I'll repost the link then. Thanks again!

[Mugu]

Mugu, we've just ordered three club bogu sets so you're more than welcome to come to our practices and use them.

KEWL BEANS! I'M COMING!! :D

[ShinKenshi]

Ok, just updated the website so if you guys want ot take a peak go ahead. The link is in my sig. It still needs a little work here and there but I needed ot get something up now.

[yohed55]

wow, that is a really nice thing you are doing. i'm glad my dojo has a website, its getting updated soon.